A Miami startup that is simplifying game development for independent creators is growing its global team after securing $2.3 million in pre-seed funding.
Led by venture capital firm Founders Fund, the capital will help The Mirror expand its team of engineers and strengthen the brand within the video game industry. The all-in-one gaming and development platform makes it possible for developers of any skill level to build virtual worlds and multiplayer games with collaborators, said founder and CEO Jared McCluskey.
"Most software has moved to real-time collaboration and cloud-based solutions, but game development has been left behind and we’re excited to bring it to the next level with open-source software," he added.
Game developers, including people with no coding experience, can build games and then distribute them on The Mirror's platform. That makes it easier for independent and 3D creators to collaborate, share and monetize their games, the company reports. The Mirror is building its platform on the Godot game engine, a free open source platform for 2D and 3D creators.
Money has poured into video game companies in 2022, with more than 650 merger and acquisition or investment deals during the first half of the year alone. During that period, $2.2 billion was directed to early-stage blockchain and NFT startups, according to a report from Drakestar Partners.
Investors Florida Funders, Konvoy Ventures, Abstract Ventures and Palm Tree Crew also contributed to The Mirror's seed round. Launched in 2022, the Miami startup currently has 15 employees located in the U.S., Europe and South America.
To help monetize their work, The Mirror will make it possible for creators to sell their 3D models, scripts, and more in exchange for a percentage of those sales. That's intended to support the move into web 3.0, a term for a next-generation version of the internet that will theoretically be powered by decentralization and blockchain technology.
"The Mirror is evolving web3 into the next interaction of the internet—building an immersive digital environment to empower creators and developers with a ‘megaverse engine’," said Florida Funders Managing Partner Tom Wallace. "We believe [the company] will be at the forefront of the metaverse.”
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